MNsure: What went wrong, and what's been improved?

That was the assessment offered in February by Tom Baden, chief information officer at the state Department of Human Services.

"It hurt," Baden said. "We've come a ways. We've got a long way to go."

Here's a look back at some of what went wrong and how things stand today:

CALL CENTER WAITS

What went wrong: At different points in December and January, the MNsure call center fielded about 16,000 calls during weeklong periods. Callers during those weeks waited an average of more than 70 minutes for help.

Is it better? MNsure has more than doubled the number of people fielding calls. During the week ending March 15, the call center received more than 20,000 calls, and the weekly average wait was about 7 minutes. But on Saturday, March 15, average wait times were nearly 30 minutes.

ABANDONED CALLS

What went wrong: Through mid-December, a technology glitch meant the MNsure call center automatically dropped calls after people waited on hold for about 60 minutes. The problem was solved, but long waits meant that many callers gave up before speaking with an operator. The week of Dec. 24, 64 percent of all calls were abandoned; the rate increased to 77 percent the week of Jan. 6.

Is it better? During the week ending March 4, the rate of abandoned calls was less than 2 percent.

STUCK APPLICATIONS

What went wrong: In December, the MNsure system struggled to determine whether applicants qualified for federal tax credits or coverage from a state public health insurance program. Such applications were deemed "stuck" in the system, and there were 12,322 of these pending applications as of Dec. 21.

Is it better? As of March 1, there were 983 "stuck" applications.

THE BLACK HOLE

What went wrong: A subset of stuck applications wound up in the "PIE queue" -- a website void that's been described by state officials as a "black hole." MNsure publicly acknowledged the black hole in December, and at its peak there were about 12,000 applications in the PIE queue.

Is it better? As of Thursday, there were 113 PIE queue cases being worked on. MNsure officials say the problem is much better now because they can actively address many such cases.

WEBSITE ERRORS

What went wrong: During the final week of October, about 22 percent of all actions on the MNsure website failed to generate the proper response. Officials say this "error rate" is not a perfect measure of website performance, but it's one of the few they've offered publicly.

Is it better? For the second week of March, the error rate was below 5 percent. The figure is difficult to interpret, however, because the weekly error rates at some points in December also were below 5 percent.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AUDITS

What went wrong: Last year, MNsure commissioned three quarterly audits on the development of the MNsure website. An audit covering the quarter through April 30 found 20 defects, including three that were deemed urgent. An audit covering the period through the end of July found 45 defects, including 13 that were deemed urgent. For the quarter ending Oct. 31, there were 48 defects including 13 that were deemed urgent.

Is it better? The latest audit hasn't been completed. Erik Larson, chief operations officer at MNsure, said that most problems experienced by consumers weren't related to issues highlighted by the audits.